Chapter V

MAGDALENIAN TIMES--CLIMATE AND MAMMALIAN LIFE OF EUROPE--CUSTOMS AND
LIFE OF THE CRÔ-MAGNONS; THEIR INDUSTRY IN FLINT AND BONE; THEIR
DISTRIBUTION--DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR ART, ENGRAVING, PAINTING,
SCULPTURE--ART IN THE CAVERNS--CLIMAX OF THE MAGDALENIAN ART AND
INDUSTRY OF THE CRÔ-MAGNONS--APPARENT DECLINE OF THE RACE.

The art and industrial epoch of Magdalenian times is by far the best known and most fascinating of the Old Stone Age. This period forms the culmination of Palæolithic civilization; it marks the highest development of the Crô-Magnon race preceding their sudden decline and disappearance as the dominant type of western Europe. The men of this time are commonly known as the Magdalenians, taking their name from the type station of La Madeleine, as the Greeks in their highest stage took their name from Athens and were known as the Athenians.

We would assign the minimum prehistoric date of 16,000 B. C. for the beginning of the Magdalenian culture, and since we have assigned to the beginning of the Aurignacian culture the date of 25,000 B. C., we should allow 9,000 years for the development of the Aurignacian and Solutrean industries in western Europe.